Cheetajet From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 44 posts, RR: 3 Posted (7 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 3239 times:
I collect and build model Airliners. I really love the 1/72 Heller kits! Also Hellers 1/125 kits. Revell 1/144 is great also. Minicraft sucks, but that's a different topic. Which scale is best and why? Like 1/125 vs 1/144. Is 1/200 still popular? Why don't more companies produce Airliner kits?
Melissa
I push a beverage cart, so don't go break'n my heart!!
Levent From France, joined Sep 2004, 1718 posts, RR: 5 Reply 1, posted (7 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 3105 times:
I guess it depends on the model type.
For big modern airliners I prefer the 1/144 scale, mainly because most models are available in that scale.
For classic airliners I prefer the 1/72 scale, I especially like the Constellation in that scale.
1/200 is too small in my opinion for airliner kits, I only have plastic display models in that scale.
Fanofjets From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1840 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (7 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 2895 times:
Hi Melissa,
Indeed, Heller has many good 1/72 scale kits or airliners both large and small. For 1/72 scale, may I recommend the Toko An-72/-74 kit (if civil freighters are your cup of tea). The detailing of this kit is simply fantastic! This kit features fully detailed interior - and I do mean the complete interior from the radar to the flight deck to the cargo area to the tail cone. Nacelle panels are removeable, revealing engine detail; even if you were to glue these in place, the engines would have a wealth of detail with their fan blades. You want rubber tires? You've got 'em. Many moveable surfaces. I have never seen such detail in a 1/72 scale kit.
The Heller 1/125 kits are a mixed bag. I have built the DC-10-30 (great!) and the A320 (mediocre).
I also like the 1/144 scale kits. The Hasegawa 1/200 kits are of good workmanship but are a bit small for my taste.
I have a Minicraft 707 - I agree; I am not impressed.
As someone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, I admit I have a soft spot for Airfix kits, even if there are much more modern models (e.g., without raised panel lines) out there. I think their Fokker F-27 is pretty neat.
The selection of civil airliner kits is limited - often you don't have a choice of scale. You take what you can find and hope for the best. I wish you the best of luck!
Regards,
Dan
The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Pronto From Canada, joined Mar 2000, 325 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2900 times:
It all depends on what you're building, and how many!! I ended up doing 1/200 because of the size - I have around 400!! I know more airliner options are available in 1/144, but that's just the way it worked out!! I did start with that scale, but space was filling up fast. I build the occasional one that scale, of types not in 1/200. Practically all my military types are 1/72(don't take much room, except larger types like B-52, KC-135, etc.) Again space issue - I had 1/48s, but too much space is required when you're building alot of them!!(about 250)
As for the last part of question, it's probably demand, and also because of Dragon, Herpa, Gemini, etc. It seems peolple caught on to these because of a number of reasons - size, types, markings and that they're "ready to go". To be quite honest, if these came out before my collection was pretty large, I would have gone there too, and just stuck to military models and only the occasional airliner...
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